Saving Seafood

‘CODA’ a win for America’s oldest seaport

March 30, 2022 — CODA’s big wins at the 94th Academy Awards Sunday night was not only a win for the deaf community, it was also a win for the nation’s oldest seaport in its portrayal of the fishing industry and its families.

“CODA” revolves around a fictional Gloucester fishing family whose three out of four members are deaf. The family’s hearing daughter, Ruby, serves as their translator. She must drag herself out of bed at 3 a.m. to help the family make ends meet dragging for groundfish.

“That is the one word that comes up again and again is the ‘authenticity’ of it,” said Gloucester Mayor Greg Verga the day after CODA won three Academy Awards Sunday night, including for Best Picture.

CODA did not turn to special effects to tell the story on the water. Instead, it turned Capt. Paul Vitale’s 50-foot fishing vessel Angela + Rose into a working movie set in August and September of 2019.

Vitale said Monday morning his phone was “going nonstop and more” after CODA’s big wins.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Rep. Moulton thrilled by GMGI’s progress

January 7, 2022 — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, joined local officials, including newly installed Mayor Greg Verga, during a tour of the nonprofit Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute’s waterfront facility on Main Street.

There, he learned how the institute is making a difference when it comes to spurring marine biotech research in this 399-year-old seaport undergoing a sea change from its legacy fishing industry to a community able to attract life sciences companies.

He saw firsthand programs that will be helped by $1 million from the state Legislature’s pandemic relief bill, a combination of money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the state budget surplus.

After a tour of the lab at 417 Main St. with GMGI Executive Director Christine Bolzan and science director Andrea Bodnar, the small entourage, including state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, and GMGI Board member Bill Kane, drove five minutes up the road to GMGI’s Biotechnology Academy at 55 Blackburn Center to tour the biotech workforce training center with Education Director John Doyle.

“This is fantastic,” Moulton said afterward. “I mean this is exactly what we need to see more of in terms of education but also in terms of our economy. There’s a synergy between the economic lifeblood of Massachusetts and tremendous educational opportunities for our students, this is incredible.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times